Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night said he will propose to the cabinet to fire Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director Ronen Bar about 18 months before his term expires.
Bar is probing several top aides of Netanyahu who are involved in “Qatargate,” a saga in which they allegedly were paid by Qatar at the same time as handling sensitive hostage negotiations policy for the prime minister also connected to Qatar.
Normally, the police investigate alleged crimes, but given the national security dimensions, the Shin Bet has taken the lead.
It was unclear if Netanyahu will be able to fire Bar. Either Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara or the High Court of Justice could rule that he has a conflict of interest in seeking to fire a law-enforcement officer who is probing his senior aides.
Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara late Sunday night sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocking him from firing Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar until the agency's probe of Qatargate is complete.
Although the prime minister does have sole control of the selection of the Shin Bet chief, the attorney-general wrote that the essence of the position is apolitical, and not a loyalty appointment such as most other political positions within the prime minister's office.
A key related issue would be if Netanyahu picks Bar’s recent deputy, “M.,” which would restore a sense of professionalism and non-politicization to the outcome of the saga. The Post has confirmed with Shin Bet sources that M. is highly respected within the agency.
In fact, Netanyahu replaced Bar with M. on the negotiating team with Qatar and Hamas regarding the Israeli hostages about a month ago, seeming to signal that he was trying him out as Bar’s successor.
If Netanyahu recruits a new head from outside the organization, however, whether the new director is accepted could depend on having strong defense qualifications, such as a top IDF general, and whether the candidate is viewed as an independent actor uninfluenced by politics or a less-qualified individual who is getting a promotion to be a figurehead, as many defense official view current Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Daniel Levi.
Although Netanyahu framed his decision as part of a “continued lack of trust” in Bar, he did not address Qatargate in his statement.
Last week, Netanyahu urged Bar to resign from his position, but Bar refused.
Bar’s position has been that he will only resign earlier than his five-year term’s expiration date if and when: 1) all of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hams are returned; and 2) a state commission of inquiry into Netanyahu’s decisions relating to the October 7 massacre is started.
According to Bar, Netanyahu has multiple times endangered the lives of Israeli hostages by continuing the war in an effort to maintain his coalition, taking into consideration Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich’s threat to quit the government if the war ends.
Furthermore , Bar has said the Shin Bet took responsibility for its numerous and vast October 7 massacre failures to block Hamas’s invasion, but that Netanyahu has prevented any attempt to probe his decisions and responsibility for the colossal failure.
Bar is afraid that Netanyahu will politicize the Shin Bet as, according to much of the defense establishment, former national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir did with the police.
During their recent contentious meeting, Netanyahu reportedly told Bar the government had “waited for the Shin Bet investigations, and now it was time to hand over the keys.”
Bar previously refused to resign
Bar refused to resign and told Netanyahu that if he wanted him gone, then he would have to fire him, N12 news site reported.
In response to the N12 report, the Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu’s decision to hire a new Shin Bet director was well within his governmental powers.
“The one who appoints the Shin Bet chief is the government and not the acting Shin Bet chief,” it said. “This has always been the case in a democratic state.”
In normal circumstances, minus Qatargate, this is unquestionably true. Whether Baharav-Miara or the High Court will step in is an open question.
Sources from NGOs involved in such issues said they expect their leadership to discuss a possible petition to the High Court in the near future.
Nadav Argaman, Bar’s predecessor, who recommended him for the role, told N12 over the weekend: “If I come to the conclusion that the prime minister has decided to act against the law, there will be no choice. I will say everything I know and have withheld until now.”
Argaman’s remarks come amid efforts to revive the judicial overhaul. He said he has yet to reveal certain incriminating information, because he wishes “to preserve the significance of the relationship between the head of the Shin Bet and the prime minister.”
This led to a furious reaction by Netanyahu, accusing both Argaman and Bar of acting like mafia members who were trying to depose him as the rightfully elected representative leader of the people. Bar later distanced himself from Argaman’s comments.
According to those defending Argaman, he only said he might reveal potential problematic allegations to law enforcement, which he had held back because of the intimate relations between a prime minister and his Shin Bet director.
The Shin Bet also is in charge of the security detail that protects the prime minister.
Netanyahu filed a complaint against Argaman with the Israel Police, which said it was reviewing the issue.
Netanyahu has had shaky relations with Bar from the start, both because former prime minister Naftali Bennett appointed him and because Bar did not forcefully shut down opposition to the judicial overhaul.
Their relations became much more frayed after the October 7 massacre, when Netanyahu blamed Bar and the IDF for the disaster substantively, which they admitted to, and also politically viewed them as useful targets for shifting political blame.
Bar beat out the most recent former deputy Shin Bet director before him, known as “R.,” in a mainly two-way race in October 2021.
Prior to June 2021, when Netanyahu was prime minister – the Bennet-Yair Lapid government displaced him from June 2021-December 2022 – former senior Shin Bet official and Netanyahu’s National Security Council adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat had been the favorite.
But he was never seriously considered for the position by Bennett due to his closeness with Netanyahu and objections to his candidacy from certain quarters within the Shin Bet.
Bar has a degree in political science and philosophy from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree in public management from Harvard University.
He served in the IDF General Staff Reconnaissance Unit.
Bennett served in the same unit during his IDF service, although he is younger than Bar, and some believe this influenced the final decision.
In 2011, Bar was appointed as head of the Shin Bet’s operations.
In 2016, he was promoted to be the head of Shin Bet headquarters, the No. 3 post, which is responsible for force buildup.
In 2018, he replaced the other R. as Shin Bet deputy director.